


Shielding Us from Evil

by Supernatastic



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Also second minor character death, I Won't Say Who, Implied Twincest, Kissing, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, but he died before the beginning of this fic, it's John, mild blood imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 07:44:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14732823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supernatastic/pseuds/Supernatastic
Summary: Sam and Dean lived at home with their widowed mother, Mary, in a quaint cabin on the edge of a forest. Their lives were pretty much normal and calm, until one day Sam’s gets in over his head learning magic and a mysterious figure shows up at their door that Dean never thought he’d see again. Even weirder, he brought his twin brother, and they both just happen to be transformed into animals when the sun’s out! The four of them partake on a journey that leads them to the other side of the forest Dean’s never seen, bringing them face to face with the witch that cursed the boys. With the help of the Persian Shield, a magical plant with an enormous potential to protect its user, they break the curse, leaving Cas and Jimmy back to normal after all those years. But when it’s time to say goodbye, Dean’s not sure he can...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! This fic has been in the making for 5 months now, and I only just finished it on posting day because of procrastinating.  
> Special thanks to my amazing beta, Bltrendafilov! Without her this fic would not have gotten finished. 
> 
> And special thanks also to my amazing artist, Diminuel! The art is beautiful and you can check it out on her tumblr or embedded within this fic. 
> 
> I had such a great time writing this story, I hope you guys like it. :)

  


“Dean, honey, you need to get going before it gets dark. I can take care of your brother just fine, now  _ go _ ,” Dean’s mother, Mary, scolded him. Sam had been sick for several days, and Dean was having a hard time leaving his little brother’s side long enough to hunt for their dinner that night.

“Alright, alright, I’m going.” 

Dean shut the door to the family cabin behind him, both happy and worried to be leaving his family behind for a little alone time in the woods where he was happiest. The forest was his second home, the sounds of leaves crunching under his feet and the smell of the coming snow left him feeling safe and happy as he made his way to his favorite hunting spot. He grabbed his bow and arrows from the shed outside the cabin and walked briskly, but quietly, to his perch in a tall oak tree about half a mile from the cabin. 

The hunting was better there, as it was far enough from the cabin that the smell of humans was diminished so the deer and large birds were eager to trek here. 

While waiting for his prey to appear, Dean sat in the tree and fiddled with his project. He had taken up whittling in his spare time, to hopefully make some cool figurines that either Sammy would like or he could sell for some extra money for his family.

Times had been hard since his father passed away, not that he remembered much from before then, as he’d been four years old when it happened. There had been a hunting accident, his father, John, had gotten overconfident and tried to take down a bear, claiming they’d eat happy for weeks, but the bear had gotten the upper hand and John never returned from the hunt. He remembers his mother crying alone in her room at night afterwards, but she would hide her tears whenever she would check up on him or Sam. 

Dean heard a rustling of leaves near his tree that broke him out of his nostalgia, and he quietly put away his whittling. Over to his left, a buck was grazing through the wild plants growing in the wooded area. Lifting his bow, he took aim, and just as he was going to release his arrow, a large bird flew right over him, startling him into releasing his arrow towards the ground instead of at the deer that was now running away. 

“Well, shit,” Dean muttered as he climbed down from his perch. Any animals that had been in the area were well and gone by now from the noise that stupid bird had helped produce, so there was no point in remaining in this spot. 

A bird flew overhead, cawing loudly at him from the sky, and Dean could have sworn it was the same bird that had caused him to lose his dinner. Brushing it off, he moved on and found a new place to hunt, not bothering to whittle while he waited this time. He needed to pay better attention so he didn’t miss any more potential shots.

It was after dark by the time Dean dragged home the large rabbit he’d managed to catch, having already gutted it far away from the house as to not attract any unwanted attention from creatures lurking in the night. The cabin lights were on and the chimney had a nice chain of smoke coming from it. Looked like his mother had gotten the furnace ready for when he brought home the meat. 

“Hey, Dean. What’d you bring us?” Mary asked, smiling at Dean as he came in the door. Sam was sitting up at the table with a blanket curled up around him, with sleep still left in his eyes.

“Rabbit, and a big one too. Hope that’s okay.”

“It’s perfect, Dean.”

Mary took the rabbit from him and told him to wash up and help Sam with his studies, which Dean did NOT want to do. Sam had become a prodigy in magical studies as of late, but Dean had little to no interest in the subject. He preferred to do things himself, with his own hands, not with some fancy book and a bunch of dead leaves in a pot. Yeah,  _ pass _ . 

“Heya, Sammy. How you feelin’?” Dean dropped his hunting gear by the door, knowing he would need to put it away before he went to bed since his mother didn’t like it in the house. 

“I’m good, Dean. Stop babying me,” Sam whined, punching Dean lightly on the shoulder. He had started learning about the power of different weeds and herbs that grew naturally in the area, and had made flash cards to help him learn everything and had Dean holding them up for him.

“I don’t know why you bother memorizing this crap when you have the book right there.”

Sam groaned at his brother. “ _ Because,  _ Dean, what if I am ever caught outside in an emergency! I may be able to save someone or even myself because I know stuff without having to lug around my whole library of magic books. Now, hurry up and flip the card, I want to get through these three times before dinner.” 

Dean obliged, if only because he loved his brother and may or may not be fairly impressed with Sam’s ability to learn all of this stuff.

Dinner was plain but satisfying, the rabbit being paired with mixed greens from his mother’s garden. He went to bed in the room he shared with his brother, and he couldn’t help but think he’d forgotten to- oh crap, he didn’t put his hunting gear away… it was too late now to sneak out to the shed, his mother would not like him going outside this late after dark.  _ There’s wolves, Dean. And other bad creatures out there _ , she would always remind him.

Maybe he could just keep them in his room until morning and then sneak them outside in the morning… 

As Dean walked to the main room of their cabin he heard a disturbing noise outside. It almost sounded like… a human in distress? 

Dean grabbed his bow and opened the front door, the yard in front of him being illuminated only by the waxing moon. “Hello?” Dean whispered.

He didn’t get a response back, but heard the noise again. That’s when he saw it. A person on the ground, cowering in front of a huge ass bear. Without even thinking, Dean went into hunter mode and drew an arrow, quickly releasing it, to hear a sickening thud of the bear falling to the ground. Head shot. 

He ran over to the bear and the scared person still on the ground to make sure they were okay.

He reached the person, a boy his age it appeared, but they still seemed frozen with fear. 

“Come on, you need to get up. This bear could attract all sorts of other creatures if the smell gets out.” Dean grabbed the stranger’s hand and dragged them into the cabin, closing the door behind them and lighting a lantern before turning around and getting a glimpse of the guy he’d just saved. 

Dean had the stranger sit down at the kitchen table, being sure not to wake his mother or brother who were sleeping in the adjacent rooms. The boy looked pale, and awfully uncomfortable being under Dean’s gaze. Dean took a seat across from him and squinted his eyes in question.

“What’s your name, stranger?”

He hesitated before answering, almost as though he was thinking of a lie to say. “Castiel.”

Dean squinted in his direction. “Castiel… Strange name.”  Waiting a moment, Dean confronted Castiel. “What the hell were you doing in the woods alone at night?” He had been trying to be quiet since his mom and brother were still asleep, but admittedly that had come out a bit louder than he’d intended.

Castiel reflexively pulled back into himself at Dean’s tone, and made no move to respond. Dean stared at Castiel, not sure what his next step should be. “Have you eaten? We’ve got some leftover rabbit, and I can fetch you some water as well.”

“Thank you, that would be lovely,” Castiel replied quietly.

Dean gathered the promised meal while he wondered what on earth he should do with Castiel now. He  _ was _ still a stranger, whether he seemed like a boy his age or not.  He handed Castiel the food and water, then had a seat at the table across from him. Castiel ate quickly but didn’t waste a drop. He acted like he was starving, but too proper to make a mess. Strange.

“So how’d you end up on this end of the woods? Our little village isn’t exactly close to town. We are the absolute outskirts of the Lawrence borders.”

“I got lost,” Castiel said as he finished the last of his water and used the back of his hand to wipe away the stray drop that hadn’t reached his mouth. 

“Where were you headed? Because I can tell you with the utmost certainty that you’re headed in the wrong direction. The only thing on this side of that forest besides my house is Purgatory. And no one goes there.” Dean waited for Castiel to respond, deny it, anything, but he just sat there silently.

“You’re kidding me.” Castiel shook his head in response. “Okay so you’re not kidding. Wow. Why would you go there, dude? You’re just a kid! There’s nothing in Purgatory that’s going to do anything by steal from you, money or otherwise. That town is  _ not  _ safe.”

Castiel stood up, pushing his chair back abruptly. “Where I’m going and why is, frankly, none of your business. I am grateful for your help and for the hospitality you’ve shown me, but I’ve really got to get going now.” Castiel ended his sentence by turning to walk towards the door of the cabin when Dean stood to match Castiel.

“Woah, dude, I’m sorry. I promise not to pry any further, but it’s still dangerous out there. At least wait until morning to storm out of here.”

Castiel squinted his eyes at Dean but sat back down anyways. 

“So… where ya from?”

They sat and talked for several hours, and Dean learned quite a lot from Castiel. He was from Pontiac, a small village about two days trek away thru the forest on foot, half a day on horseback (as per Castiel’s insistence though Dean disagreed), and that he was 18, just like Dean. He also had a younger brother. Just like Dean. It was just before sunrise when Castiel left. He had taken

his time saying goodbye to Dean, as though he had really appreciated their time together, but as soon as he was out the door Castiel disappeared. Dean wondered if he’d ever see Castiel again as he watched the sun rise from his bedroom window. With Castiel now gone, he figured he’d actually try and get some sleep before his mom and brother woke up… relatively soon.

He was awoken just an hour later by his mother screaming at him to put his bow back in the shed outside… guess he forgot to sneak it out after getting Castiel inside. Yikes.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a while after that before Dean thought of Castiel again. His brother had gotten better and his mother had gotten over being mad about the hunting gear inside the house. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and Sam had Dean carrying a basket after him through the woods and the bordering grasslands so that he could collect the necessary ingredients for the spells in his beginner’s book. 

“Sam, how much longer are we gonna be doing this? I feel like red riding hood, and I’d rather not run into any wolves today.”

“Dean, don’t be such a baby. I need like, 15 more plants before we can go back or else we will have to come back tomorrow, and I  _ know _ you don’t want to help me again tomorrow.” Sam replied, clearly tired of Dean’s complaining.

“Fine, you win.”

“If you helped look this would be so much faster and we could go home sooner.”

“Well then why don’t you tell me what to look for? You can’t just give me a plant name and expect me to know what it is!” Dean proposed, loudly enough to scare off all surrounding birds in the area. 

Sam just shook his head and kept walking ahead of Dean. “Didn’t you look at any of the pictures I showed you before we left the house, or were you too busy with your knife?”

Dean just muttered under his breath, basically in denial over Sam being completely right. He was totally ignoring every picture Sam showed him at the table that morning… Though he vaguely remember one with a purple leaf pattern. Kind of like the one right in front of them.

“Hey Sam, what’s this one?” 

Sam stopped moving forward and turned around to backtrack towards where Dean was now standing, hovering over the mysterious purple plant he couldn’t remember the name of. 

“I wasn’t sure if this was one, but there was definitely a picture--.”

“DEAN!” Sam shouted, “this is the persian shield plant! Wow, I wasn’t even trying to look for this one today. The book said it’s so rare because the conditions for it to grow and so specific that most places can’t grow them to begin with! But I guess it is pretty good here, in the woods it’s fairly dark with just enough sunlight to get by, and it’s the right time of year I guess too since it’s not too hot in September anymore…” 

Sam trailed on and Dean stopped listening. His little brother could go on and on and on… about literally anything, so it was better not to ask Sam to explain stuff.

When Sam finally finished guffawing at the plant, he very carefully picked it at the root and placed it in their basket, along with several of their other herbs and weeds, as Dean called them. They started heading back towards the cabin when Dean saw a shadow approach from the left of them. When Dean turned, he saw a large buck, just standing staring at them. 

Weird, Dean could have sworn it was the same one he’d tried to shoot at the other day. Not that it mattered, since Sam called after him and the buck ran away in the opposite direction. He could have sworn the deer was staring right at him, like, making direct eye contact. 

It was approaching dusk when they got home, and his mother already had dinner waiting for them on the table. 

“Okay, so tell me what it is we just found out there, this purpley one here,” Dean motioned at the purple-leafed plant Sam had fangirled over outside, hoping he wouldn’t be too annoyed that Dean had failed to listen earlier.

Sam sat down at the table and pulled out one of his old magic books. He opened it to a page marked with a piece of straw. “Look here, it’s called Strobilanthes dyerianus, or the persian shield. It is extremely rare and used in highly advanced magic. I only know that because I read ahead before we had time to gather the stuff I needed for the easier stuff… but since we have it maybe we could go ahead and try to use it!”

Dean looked at his mother who was looking at him. They both shook their heads at each other then pointed their looks at Sam, who quickly got the picture if his fallen expression meant anything.

“Look, kiddo. We can play with advanced magic  _ after _ you have successfully completed beginner and intermediate, or whatever.” Dean told Sam, rubbing the top of his head and messing up his extremely long hair. 

Sam just ignored Dean and opened his book to continue reading about the beginner spells he was going to work on today, and Dean went to stand next to his mother in the kitchen. 

“Hey,” Mary, his mother, said, grabbing a towel to wipe her hands before wrapping Dean in a warm hug. “You doin’ alright today? You seem kinda down, honey.”

Dean shrugged out of his mother’s embrace so he could face her better. “I don’t know, I’ve just got this weird feeling.”

“About Sam’s magic?”

Dean shook his head. “No, nothing like that, though that definitely gives me some different feelings… Just, in general. I can’t really explain it.”

Mary gave Dean a pat on the back. “I’m sure it’ll get better, just have to give yourself some time to work it out.” Turning around, she handed Dean some dishes to put away and they continued to work together in silence as Sam worked on his spells. 

Sam’s magical abilities continued to impress Dean. That first day in the kitchen Sam managed to make a minor healing tonic, which wasn’t really,  _ healing _ , but was more a weird gel that went over cuts to stop the bleeding, acting as though it was trying to become a second skin. Of course, Dean had been the one to “volunteer” to help Sam do this… meaning he had to cut his finger to let Sam try and see if the potion had worked properly. Luckily it had, so Dean was no worse for wear.

Another spell Sam had mastered was a tracking spell, kind of. It had a range of like, 500 feet, but nonetheless it was impressive. They had to draw a map of their house and yard by hand, and it wasn’t completely accurate but it got the job done. Dean hid an object in the house and Sam would do the spell, burn the map, and the area leftover was where the item was. 

Granted, for that spell to work you needed a  _ part _ of the item to do the spell, so it became a matter of cutting up a cloth into a bunch of pieces so some could be hidden and some could be used for the spell. They hadn’t tried anything else for that one yet.

The spell that had freaked Dean out the most, because it really worked and stuff like that shouldn’t work, was the binding of an object to a person. That one had been the most complicated to learn, but it worked really well. It involved some blood magic, however (“shh, Dean, don’t tell mom!”), and then the ritual involved putting the desired object in a large bowl with the blood and some weird leaves that Dean didn’t care to remember. Once Sam finished the incantation Dean was supposed to be able to draw the object into his hand like a magnet.

Some other spells that Sam learned that weren’t exactly exciting were: instantly boiling water, making ice instantly, insta-growth of plants (to a certain extent), and making hair full of static (putting extra charges in the air which affects the hair).

There was also magic where you could draw shapes and figures on a piece of cloth or paper, and when said with an incantation and a drop of blood is added to the paper, the spell would be performed. (“These could be useful when you go hunting, Dean! That way if you ever meet a bear you will be safe, unlike dad…”). If one cared to memorize a bunch of meaningless words, then there were also spells that only require chanting latin phrases to obtain the desired effect. Dean’s favorite was one he called “Sparkles” which acted basically like rubbing flint and stone together to create sparks which can be used to start fires. He mostly liked this one because it was pretty.

So Dean wouldn’t admit this out loud, but, Sam’s magic crap was actually pretty cool… He even bothered to memorize some of the spells that would be useful for him. But none of that leaf potion crap. Sam could have that all to himself, he wasn’t gonna be  _ brewing _ anything like those witches in the pointy hats do. No thanks.

“You know, if this plant is so hard to find maybe we should be trying to grow more of it or something. You said the conditions were good didn’t you?”  Dean told Sam one afternoon while carving new tips for his arrows. 

Sam gives Dean a look that can only be described as petulant. “I’m offended that you think I haven’t already considered this, Dean. Of course I tried to grow more of it, but it is NOT working. It just won’t grow, and I’m scared of wasting too much of the plant trying to make more of it and failing. So I’ve stopped trying.” Sam looks utterly defeated by the time he finishes his little speech about the plant not growing. But Dean can only think of one thing. “Did you consider asking mom for help? You’ve seen her garden, she’s basically a plant whisperer. You should really talk to her about it.”

“Talk to me about what?” Mary walked in at the perfect time to hear the end of their conversation. She was covered in dirt, still wearing her boots and gardening gloves. 

They make another seed pod from another leaf of the plant and set out to make it grow. “So you said it needs to be mostly dark, only indirect sunlight, not too hot, and slightly damp, right?” Mary questioned Sam.

“Exactly, which is why the woods were perfect, the trees above it provided the shade, and the dead leaves on the ground keep the moisture from leaving, so the plant was wet enough and dark enough, and since it’s September the heat of summer is gone. These are the perfect conditions.”

“Then I say we make our own woods right here in the garden. Go find me some big sticks with lots of branches. And ferns!” 


	3. Chapter 3

Sam and Dean were sent to gather the supplies for the garden that their mom had requested from them, also including a half bushel of dead leaves, soil from the forest near where they found the purple plant.

Once they’d gathered it all, they made their way back to Mary and laid everything down beside her. Then they got to work creating the perfect habitat for the persian shield. They placed it in the sturdily fenced garden to keep it safe from predators.

They ended up making fake trees out of the sticks, placing them sticking out of the ground with dead leaves stuck on the little branches they put the rest of the dead leaves around the soil from the forest before finally transplanting a leaf from the persian shield plant into the dirt. There wasn’t much information on the plant in the book besides it’s magical properties and where to find it, but it did mention that you can just rip off a leaf and stick it in the ground and it should grow. That’s assuming the book is correct, though. So far, everything the book had said had been the gospel truth, but there’s no telling. Dean always remained a little skeptical.

It was over a week since the transplant and the plant was actually still alive. This was the longest it had lasted so far, and Sam was very hopeful.

“See, boys, I told you it would all work out,” Mary said one day while washing dishes in the kitchen after supper. Dean had gone out and caught a wild turkey several days prior so they were still eating the large bird. It was tender and juicy, and probably one of Dean’s favorite meals that wasn’t from a cow. Sadly, those didn’t graze around here and the only source of them was to purchase already-processed meat from the traveling butcher once a year. 

Growing aside, Sam had now been working on magic for long enough (which isn’t very long, Sam is just brilliant at it) that both Mary and Dean were allowing him to work the more advanced spells that the persian shield plant was involved in. Just like its name suggests, the purple plant is used to make different types of shields. Kind of. 

“Dean, look! You can enchant an object if you just draw this on it and say the incantation, then the magic is embedded in the object. Then you can draw the magic from the object whenever you want!” Sam was very excited about this, obviously. Dean didn’t quite understand why drawing this special little design was magical, but he had seen with his own two eyes that it worked so he wasn’t going to question it. 

The first thing they enchanted was Dean’s whittling knife. It made practical sense, Dean always had it on him, and if Sam was with Dean then  _ bam _ , source of magic. 

Enchanting an object that would always be around Sam, however, was more difficult. Sam doesn’t really carry around anything… except for books. But books don’t travel well if you are trying to have both hands free for performing actual magic. So Mary came up with the idea to sew a pouch for carrying herbs that can be tied around his waist, and they enchanted this. 

The enchanting process was pretty complex but surprisingly they did it right the first time around. They had to crush the plant into a paste and add to it the bowl where the enchanted object would be placed.

Once the last ingredient was added to the mixture, Sam painted the intricate symbol onto the pouch with his finger. And now they were ready to start the incantation. 

“ _ Te do hoc scutum tenere illud _

_ Ut illa quae occultatum _

_ Donec veniat opus feurit sit.” _

As Sam started the spell the symbol began to sparkle until it was glowing a bright purple color. By the time he finished the symbol had gotten so bright they’d all had to close their eyes for fear of being blinded. When they all opened their eyes, the symbol was gone.

“How do we know it worked?” Dean asked the obvious question. 

“We could try it?” Sam suggested. They all seemed pretty much in agreement with that idea, so a plan was made. Mary was to throw an inanimate object at the boys, (she picked up an apple from the table for this) while Sam said the activation spell from behind Dean (who would keep the apple from hitting him if the spell failed).

“What’s the words again?” 

“Here,” Sam threw the piece of paper at Dean with the incantation on it. “okay, Mom, I’m ready.” 

Mary drew back her arm to throw the apple and Sam shouted, “ _ da clypeus!”  _ followed by, “Ow!!”

Dean of course folded over in laughter and Sam’s reaction, having to wipe tears from the corner of his eyes when he finally stood back up. 

“You were supposed to be blocking me, Dean!”

“I thought that’s what this was supposed to do?” 

Sam simply pouted as he walked back to the table where his spell book was lying open. “I’m not sure what went wrong. The glowing made it seem like the spell worked, so it must have been the activation execution that was wrong.” 

Mary walked over behind Sam to look at the book with him. “Maybe we did something wrong? Perhaps if you conjure the shield before I start to throw it, give it more time to form?” 

Sam pondered this, nodding his head. “It’s worth a shot, but only if Dean catches the apple this time!”

“Haha, alright alright, I’ll catch it okay?” Dean smiled to himself as he went to stand in front of Sam again, this time planning to actually prevent the fruit from hitting his little brother again. One time was enough to get his laugh.

“Okay, here goes.  _ Da clypeus _ !” Sam uttered. At first nothing happened, but in only a few seconds a purple mist formed in front of Sam’s body, and they all stared at it, amazed. 

“Woah! How do I use it?” Sam was in awe of his own ability to conjure the spell at this point. He waved his hands around and saw that he could make the purple mist take a form, get larger or smaller, and even become more solid in the air.”

“Head’s up!” Mary motioned to throw the apple at Sam, and Dean saw his brother snap to attention and place his hands in front of his body, effectively snapping the shield into place. The apple bounced right off of it.

“Nice!” Dean congratulated Sam. This shield thing was definitely going to be a fun project for them all to play with.

It was later that same night, Mary had already gone to bed and Sam was still reading at the kitchen table while Dean sat by the wood stove working on his latest project, a wooden duck. The wind had been blowing harder than usual that day, so when Dean heard noises outside he quickly dismissed them, blaming it on the wind. The noise happened again, though, and this time even Sam looked up from his studies.

“Dean?” 

“Yeah, I’m checking. Go to the bedroom, Sam.” Dean put down his half-finished duck as Sam quickly made his way to their shared room, and Dean held his knife out as he tiptoed to the door. It was too dark outside to see anything, so he was going to have to open the door and-- then someone knocked. 

Dean stood up, confused, and opened the door, still brandishing his knife.

“Cas? What are you doing here? I never thought I’d see you again,” to which Castiel replied “Hello, Dean,” and then pushed his way inside the house. “Where is it?”

Dean stared dumbstruck at Castiel and lowered his knife while the other boy scanned the room with his eyes. “Where is what?”

“The persian shield plant, I know you have it,” Castiel said, tone short.

With this, Dean stood up a little straighter and purposefully blanked his face. “What are you talking about?” 

Castiel ignored Dean’s question and continued rummaging through the cupboards in the kitchen, knocking over bowls and other things in the process.

Okay, now Dean was officially ticked. He raised his knife and put himself in Castiel’s field of view. “You’ve got 3 seconds to stop and start explaining yourself, or you’re not gonna like what happens next, Cas.”

Cas looked up and assessed the situation before raising his hands and moving away from the cupboards. He took Deans lead and had a seat at the table. 

“Start talking.”

“It’s a long story, Dean,” Castiel said.

Dean leaned back in his chair, seemingly getting comfortable. “I’ve got time.

Castiel took a deep breath before looking Dean straight in the eye and beginning what was going to be a very long conversation.

“It all started 18 years ago. My mother died during childbirth, giving birth to twins had just been too hard on her. My father was devastated, of course, but he loved us so much. We were his pride and joy after that. He tried so hard to take care of us and keep enough money to buy food and clothing for us, but sometimes there just wasn’t enough. He began to borrow money from people left and right, and was never able to pay it back. He borrowed too much and the man became angry and sought revenge. That’s when the witch got involved. Dad couldn’t pay the money, so the witch took something that was worth more to my father than money. His sons.”

“We were cursed when we were 12 years old, me and Jimmy, and now we need to get that plant so we can defeat the witch and break the curse, don’t you understand? This is more important than anything you’re doing with it, I assure you.” Castiel was out of breath when he finished, clearly this conversation had taken a toll on him emotionally. Dean could almost feel the desperation in his voice, even if he didn’t quite believe the story he was being told. 

“Okay, so say I have this plant… How exactly are you going to use it to defeat a witch? And why didn’t you mention your twin brother last time? And what exactly is this curse anyways? You look fine to me.” Dean might as well get some evidence before he started sharing any secrets that  _ he  _ had. 

“Well my brother is outside listening to see how this goes before coming inside… So we could answer that question easily if you just open the front door.”

Dean walked over to the door and opened it, and what do you know, Cas’s doppelganger was standing on the other side, obviously trying to listen in. “Come on in, party’s just getting started.” Dean motioned Jimmy inside towards the table where his brother was sitting.

By this time Sam had come out of his room, smartly leaving his herb satchel behind. He was standing just on the other side of the door, leaning up against the door frame, taking in the whole scenario. With Jimmy now sitting at the table, Dean felt it necessary for Castiel to continue explaining himself.

“So what exactly is this curse anyways, you both look fine to me.” Dean spoke, pointing at the obvious identical twins with his whittling knife, still in his hand. 

This time Jimmy spoke, “We turn into animals when the sun’s out. Now do you have the plant or what?”

“Jimmy, please,” Castiel pleaded with him.

“Say I believed you. Why would this witch curse you like that anyways? Surely there are worse curses.” Dean pondered their situation lightly, obviously not completely believing it yet.

“It wasn’t to punish us, per say, but to punish our father. He was so emotionally traumatized by it we couldn’t stand to see him like that anymore. So we left.

“Look we just want to get this plant so we can break this curse and go home, okay? It’s dangerous out there in the woods. A few months ago Castiel had almost been that bear’s dinner when you’d found him. Not to mention hunters during the day trying to murder us.” Jimmy was huffing at this point, clearly desperate for the plant and also very angry. And his anger seemed to be pointing right at Dean.

“Why is he so mad at me?” Dean asked Castiel.

Castiel sighed. “You nearly shot him several months ago with your bow, the only reason you didn’t is because I distracted you.”

Dean seemed dumbstruck, not to mention he was very confused.

Castiel understanding, took a moment to explain further. “I was a hawk, I distracted you from shooting a buck, that buck was Jimmy.”

Dean’s face when pale at this. He remember the exact moment Castiel was referring to now. There was nobody with him, though. Nobody in sight! The only way they could even know that story was if they were there… Oh my god, they  _ were _ there!

“I believe you,” Dean all but whispered, “I believe you.” Dean was louder that time, clearly trying to communicate his faith in the twins.  And with that, Dean put away his whittling knife. 

“Thank you, Dean.” Castiel smiled in appreciation at Dean’s show of faith in them. “So, you were gonna stab me with your whittling kni--,”

“Shut up,” Dean interrupted Castiel, smiling.


	4. Chapter 4

“Okay so I get the whole cursed by a witch and you’re actually animals thing, but what do you need with the plant? How will that break the curse?” Sam finally moved towards the group and made his voice heard. And it was probably the best question of the night.

“It’s how the plant itself that breaks the curse, or kills the witch. It’s what the plant does to you,” Jimmy interjected. 

Castiel nodded in agreement. “You brew the plant like a tea and drink it, and you are immune to most magic. That’s the only way we can even get near that witch. Otherwise we’d probably never make it close.”

Sam was more than surprised at this information. “My book doesn’t say anything about drinking it!” He was clearly both in disbelief but also pretty excited at the potential information he could be learning from the twins. 

Jimmy laughed at Sam’s reaction and turned to Castiel. “See, I told you they had it.” Castiel only nodded in reply. 

“Dean, please. Our lives depend on obtaining this plant. We have searched for years, days on end, weeks at a time, looking for this plant and you finally found it, it’s finally here. We can finally end this curse. I cannot express how much we would owe you if you did us this small favor.” Castiel looked especially sad and pathetic with this remark, his eyes extra blue and lips wet and definitely pouting, and Dean couldn’t help but think he was doing it on purpose to make Dean pity them. Well damn if it didn’t work, either. Dean was a sucker for a cute face. Or an extremely attractive face. Yeah, very very attractive. 

“Fine, on one condition. Let me come with you. To...make sure you use it properly, and whatever. Besides if there’s a dangerous witch you’re going after, I’m sure I could be useful. I know my way around a fight, that’s for sure.” And that was totally the reason Dean wanted to tag along. Had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that ever since Castiel walked in that door today he couldn’t help but be grateful for another chance to see his face again. Sure, he had all but forgotten him until now, but he was certain now he would never forget Castiel’s features. Or Jimmy’s, given they look pretty much the same and the only reason Dean can tell them apart is because Castiel is much more stoic, and Jimmy looks less desperate and more… annoyed?

“Hey, if you’re going then I’m going too! It’s my plant after all, I’m the one who did all the work to get it and understand its powers. Besides do any of you know how to use it? Face it, you need me.” Sam had his chest puffed out and was determined to tag along. It was right then when they all noticed Mary sitting in the corner, and had been for some time. 

“Sam’s right, Dean. He should go with you all. He had more than earned a spot on your team. I think you’ll all find yourselves grateful to have Sam tag along.”

“What? No!” Dean refused. “He’s just a kid, mom! I can’t risk him getting hurt, how can I protect all three of them!” 

“I can take care of myself.” Sam crossed his arms defiantly. 

Dean looked back to his mother, desperate.

“He’ll be fine, Dean. You all should leave in the morning. You’ll be safer travelling during the daylight, even if you’re not your normal selves.”

Jimmy and Castiel nodded. “She’s right,” Jimmy said. “We should wait until morning. Then you will truly see that we were telling the truth.”

Castiel and Jimmy slept in the living room that night, and some time before dawn they all awoke again to prepare and discuss the plan they needed. There would be some travelling before they reached the witch, and they still needed a plan to defeat her.

Mary had awoken first and prepared food for their journey, packing bags and canisters for them, plus several other things they would need while practically backpacking through the forest. 

“So, you guys are gonna change soon, huh?” Dean asked the twins.

“Yeah, probably in an hour or so. As soon as the sun peeks over the horizon.” 

Dean nodded; they clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but it was kind of hard to avoid when they were literally going to be with them all day. 

They eventually agreed on a plan. The twins would be turn into a horse (Jimmy) and a hawk (Castiel), and Sam and Dean would ride Jimmy while Castiel kept a lookout up ahead of them. Dean was to bring his bow and arrows, and an actual hunting knife (in addition to his whittling knife, of course), and Sam would bring a canteen of brewed persian shield in addition to his pouch of miscellaneous herbs. Cas and Jimmy really only had the clothes on their backs with them, so they would need to stop by where they “lived” and gather things there. It wasn’t too far and was pretty much in the same direction. 

According to their calculations, it would take two full days to reach the place where the witch supposedly lived. They would stop travelling as soon as dusk hit, and they would set up camp and make food for everyone. As far as a plan went regarding killing her… They hadn’t exactly made headway there yet. But they had two days to discuss it, right?

Well, I guess technically not since two of them wouldn’t be doing any talking.

Damnit, this was a suicide mission wasn’t it. 

Just before the sun was set to rise, Sam and Dean said their goodbyes to their mother, and the four of them made their way outside. Without a second glance, Castiel and Jimmy began removing their clothing. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Dean asked them. 

“We’ll ruin our clothes in we transform while we’re in them, so we have to take them off.” 

The explanation was good enough for Sam, so he turned around to give them their privacy. Dean was still kind of dumbstruck by the idea and his body froze, he was unable to do anything except stare at them as they each lost the last bit of clothing hiding their skin from the rising sun. 

Any one would have to admit in this moment that the twins were both beautiful, and Dean couldn’t help but stare at their asses. He only really got a glance, though, because as soon as the sun peeked over the horizon the boys started to glow, up until the point they were blindingly bright and Dean had to shield his eyes. When he looked up again, he saw a muscular, dark brown horse with white stockings on each leg and a star to match on his head. His mane and tail were black and long and he was probably the most beautiful horse Dean had ever seen. He was about 15.3 hands tall, and his forelock was so long it nearly covered both of his eyes. Standing on his rump was a beautiful black and gold bird with a golden-fade-to-blue beak. So much for turning into a hawk, that was definitely a golden eagle! 

Sam turned around after hearing a commotion. “Oh, Wow! Look at you guys, I can’t believe you’re actually animals!” Sam was quite literally in awe of them, but Dean was still thinking about what they looked like before they were transformed. 

He really needed to forget about it though, he didn’t even know these people and they had a schedule to keep.

They put their bags on Jimmy’s rump and Sam and Dean quickly mounted up, and before they knew it they were on their way towards Cas and Jimmy’s camp site. 

It was a quiet ride for the most part, they kept the pace pretty slow in the beginning to reserve Jimmy’s strength, not to mention Sam and Dean weren’t exactly experts at riding, especially without a saddle. 

They reached the twins’ campsite relatively quickly, and Dean was surprised by what he saw. It was a simple cloth tent, white triangle with the sides nailed into the ground. It seemed like no one had been there in a few days, though. Not knowing exactly what they were supposed to grab from the camp, Sam and Dean surveyed what they thought was important, and left anything they didn’t think could be replaced after this was all over. When they got back on Jimmy, he seemed okay with that they’d gathered because he picked back up his walk and they headed through the woods once more.

Dusk was getting closer, Dean could tell, because Jimmy was getting antsy under their seats and Cas had been flying to and fro above them for several minutes. Dean wondered if maybe being animals was uncomfortable for them, or if they just missed being able to speak. 

Jimmy had been going pretty much all day, maintaining a trot for most of the trip, but he still had to be exhausted from being on the move all day. When they came to a clearing, Jimmy stopped and Castiel landed on the ground. 

Sam slipped off of Jimmy’s back right away and started to gather the twins’ clothing so they could put them on as soon as they transformed. Dean took his time getting down, never liking that part of riding a horse: getting off. It was kind of high and Dean was usually able to ignore it, but dismounting led to its own problems. Sliding off with no problem, Dean walked around and stretched his legs as they waited for the sun to fully set. It would be easier to set up camp once they were able to actually communicate again.

It was now too dark to see much of anything, but that didn’t stop Dean from observing the night grow quiet and still before the twins started to transform. The glow was dim to start but quickly got too bright for Dean to keep his eyes open. When he could finally see again, Cas and Jimmy were already reaching for their clothing. Sam and Dean walked over to the twins once they were dressed.

“Hey, how are you guys feeling?”

Cas brushed off his pants before turning to Dean to answer. “We are alright, just a bit disoriented after the transformation. It’s not an entirely pleasant experience.”

Jimmy nodded in agreement. “You’ve got that right, I’ve spent all day being 4 times the size of all of you, now I’ve shrunk down to my normal size. Feels like I’m wearing too small of clothes.” Jimmy laughed at himself, but Castiel shook his head and turned away, failing to hide his own smile from Dean’s eyes. 

Wow, he sure was handsome when he smiled.

What the hell? Dean, pull yourself together.

Clearing his throat, Dean spoke up again. “Let’s set up camp shall we?”

“I’ll start setting up the tents, Dean, and you guys can start the fire and make some food. I’m starving,” Sam said as he made his way to the middle of the clearing.

“Of course you’re hungry. Maybe you’ll finally hit a growth spurt!” Dean called after him. “Let’s get some wood for a fire.”

The twins followed after Dean silently, and it was bordering on awkward. Dean still didn’t really know these guys at all, so trying to think of something to talk about was a struggle. Well, they should probably talk about their plan for the witch, or maybe even discuss practicing using the persian shield magic so they don’t make out like fools when the time comes to battle. 

Not that kind of make out. Seriously, Dean? Get it together!

“You okay, Dean?” Castiel placed his hand on Dean’s shoulder, startling Dean out of his distracting thoughts. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

Castiel moved into step next to Dean and gave him a small smile. “I wanted to thank you again, Dean. You are sacrificing a great amount to help us along on our journey.”

Dean shook his head. “Nah, man. I don’t mind much. I saved your life once, might as well make it a habit, right? I know I don’t know you very well, and to be frank this situation is kind of crazy, but now that I’m in it, I’m in it, ya know? We are friends now, and my friends are like family, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let my family go into a fight like this alone.” Perhaps saying they were friends was pushing it a little, but Cas took it well and even smiled back in response. Jimmy wasn’t saying much, but honestly he didn’t know Jimmy well enough to strike up much conversation anyways. 

Castiel took initiative and started walking on in front of Dean and Jimmy, and Dean couldn’t help himself but to stare at Cas as he bent down to pick up some decent firewood. Even in baggy pants and a long coat, Castiel’s ass looked divine. 

It took some time but they gathered plenty of firewood and headed back to camp. They came back to see two tents set up, one for Sam and Dean and one for the twins, with the firepit all set up for them to start burning the wood they got. 

“Nice going, Sammy. Knew we could count on you.” Dean ruffled his brother’s hair as he walked past, seriously proud of the kid for taking the effort and being as helpful as he was. 

Over a dinner of rabbit and their mother’s bread, they talked about what the following day would hold. 

“So, I was thinking all day about an attack plan for when we reach the witches dwelling,” Jimmy started. “I think we should definitely attack at night, otherwise Cas and me are pretty useless and more at risk. We will need to learn to use the shield magic, so if you guys could teach us and we could all practice that would be idea. I have some ideas as far as actual combat goes as well, but I want to see what you guys think of this first.”

Sam spoke up first. “I can definitely teach you the shield magic, Dean and I have practiced it at home a bunch of times. And I think we’ve both gotten pretty good at it.”

Jimmy nodded at Sam. “Awesome, we really appreciate it. If you don’t mind, I’d like to go ahead and start learning now before we have to go to bed. We should be safe if we stay close to the fire.”

With Jimmy practicing shield magic with Sam, that left Dean and Cas by themselves with nothing to do but talk. 

“So…” Dean started at the same time Cas said, “Uh,” which left them both not saying anything. There also was definitely  _ not _ a blush creeping up Dean’s cheeks, nope, really it wasn’t. 

“Would you teach me the shield magic, Dean? I’m sure you’re as good a teacher as Sam.” 

Dean quickly got up, thinking teaching him would be preferred to sitting and talking, about anything. Dean wasn’t great at talking and it didn’t seem like Cas liked it better one way or the other.

The first thing he showed Castiel was how to summon the shield from an object that was enchanted with it. They did simple spell work, just like Sam and Dean had practiced at home with throwing the apple. Once he’d mastered that, Dean taught him how to manipulate the shield, change its shape, make it bigger, and move it away from himself. They even managed to throw the shield far enough to push Jimmy over into the dirt.

Everyone was hysterical with laughter except Jimmy, though he didn’t seem too upset about it.  That was something he’d noticed about Jimmy so far on this adventure. He was always going with the punches, didn’t take himself too seriously, and Dean liked that about him. 

After several more rounds of practice for both pairs, they met back at the fire.

“What do you say we try the persian shield brew? Make sure it works and all,” Sam suggested.

“Okay, let’s do it, I wanna give it a try.” Jimmy was on his feet first, ready to drink the tea Sam made before they’d started the journey.

“So once you drink it you should be resistant to magic. I’m going to use a spell on you and we’ll see if it really works.” Sam backed away from the campfire and the rest of the guys, then turned around and was digging through his herb satchel. He reemerged with a small bottle of dried herbs, which he then poured in his hand. 

“ _ Egredere advolet _ ,” Sam whispered to the herbs as he blew them out of his hand and in Jimmy’s direction. Jimmy’s direction was also Dean and Castiel’s direction though, and when the spell hit them they both were flung backwards three feet and landed on the asses. Jimmy stayed put, however, never even flinching.

“Cool! It worked! What was that spell anyways?” Jimmy was very excited that the brew seemed to be working, and Dean was jealous he hadn’t volunteered because after a long day of riding his ass was sore enough thank you. 

“Something I created, actually. It’s a mixture of herbs that I found made stuff knock over. I used it once during chess with Dean to knock his king over and it flew across the room and broke mom’s vase…” Sam looked sheepish at this admission, but Cas and Jimmy just smiled at him. It was kinda funny after all. 

Now that they were wrapping up the training, they all agreed they needed to discuss strategy as far as combat went. They were all in agreement about attacking at night, but other than that there was no real strategy.

“So obviously we will all need to drink Sam’s brew so we are as immune as possible to the witch’s magic,” Cas started. “This witch, her name is Rowena. She is a black witch, specializing in using dark magic, which is what she used to curse me and Jimmy. Luckily, dark magic is most vulnerable to light magic, which is the kind Sam has been using, and the persian shield is a very strong light magic spell, and that definitely gives us an advantage.”

“Would she be alone, or would there be other people fighting for her?” Dean asked.

Castiel looked towards Dean, acknowledging his question. “She works exclusively alone, her coven rejected her when she got too power hungry a long time ago. I’m not even sure she has any allies left.”

“Okay, drink my brew, what else?” Sam questioned. He seemed nervous, and as the smallest and youngest of the group he had every right to be. Dean hated that Sam was so vulnerable by being on this journey with the rest of them, but he insisted, and they absolutely needed his expertise if they had any shot at beating this Rowena character.

Jimmy nodded. “Right, so Sam, I went over the spells you are comfortable with and I think you should act as support, using your spells and herbs to keep us all protected and immune from whatever the witch throws at us. And then Cas and I, we should go head on at her, since we have the most to gain and don’t need either of you getting hurt. Dean, you are a hunter at your core, you use your knife and bow to do as much physical damage to her as possible. She may not be able to die like a normal person, but that will sure as hell weaken her so that Cas and me can pin her down.”

Dean bowed his head, thinking over the plan that Jimmy and Cas were giving them. It seemed like a decent strategy, but he couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong. 

With the strategy talk out of the way, they mutually decided to get some sleep since Cas and Jimmy would be up at dawn no matter what time they went to bed. The plan for tomorrow was the same, Jimmy a horse and Cas  a hawk  an eagle. Sam was already in their tent and Cas was in his and Jimmy’s, just leaving him and the other twin to hang up the food and put out the fire. This was Dean’s first time alone with Jimmy without someone else around as a buffer, and it was surprisingly not awkward anymore. Perhaps now they’d gotten to know each other well enough to be comfortable. 

“Hey, wait,” Jimmy called after Dean when he started to head towards his tent.

“What’s up?” Dean turned around to face Jimmy. The young man was as handsome as Cas, with the moon illuminating his face and making dark shadows across his face, he could have sworn he looked more chiseled and older than he had that morning before dawn.

“I saw you looking at Cas’s ass earlier.”

Dean wasn’t expecting this to come out of Jimmy’s mouth and immediately stiffened. He was at a complete loss for words and he could feel the heat rushing to his cheeks.

Jimmy laughed with a smirk. “Don’t worry, I do it all the time.” And with that, he turned on his heel and walked right to his tent without saying goodnight. 

Dean was still processing what that meant when he said out loud, “wait, what?”


	5. Chapter 5

Laying in bed next to Sam, Dean thought over the day he’d had with this group. He was used to being with his brother, and for most of the day that’s pretty much all it felt like, given he couldn’t talk to Jimmy or Cas. But this evening after dusk? That was… different. He enjoyed the extra company, they didn’t see a lot of people where they lived in the woods. It had also been nice hanging out with people his own age for once. He was 19 and they were 18, it was a sharp contrast from Sam’s almost being 15. There was a lot of growing and maturing that happens in the late teen years and Jimmy and Cas and definitely grown more than he had, having to rough it in the woods by themselves every night. It kind of broke his heart a little, knowing all that they had been through. He hoped he could really help them on this adventure and get their bodies back to normal. They sure as hell deserved it.

Everyone was up and awake nearly an hour before dawn to break down the campsite and do any talking that needed to happen before the sun came up. Dean was up first, which meant he was able to sit by the fire that was long gone and watch a sleepy Cas and Jimmy emerge from their tent. Cas’s hair was absolutely a wreck, although it looked more like crazy sex hair than just bed head. Wait, was it sex hair? No, that wouldn’t make sense he was sleeping with Jimmy last night and definitely wouldn’t… Jimmy  _ had  _ said he stared at Cas’s ass all the time… but surely he’d just been teasing Dean to make him feel bad. Right?  _ Right? _ He’d been staring too long and Cas was giving him a strange look now. Wonderful.

Standing up, he cleared his throat and walked over to the twins. “Sleep okay?”

Castiel managed a grunt in reply, and that seemed all he was capable of. Not a morning person, apparently. Granted they’d only had time for 5 hours of sleep after all the training they did, given how early they’d needed to wake up. Jimmy was a bit more with it and actually spoke a reply. “Yeah, how ‘bout you guys?” 

“Just fine, Sam only kicked me 7 times in his sleep.” Dean and Jimmy both cracked at smile at this. 

“Hey, I can’t help it, you kept trying to snuggle me in your sleep, had to get you off me somehow. Should have brought you an extra pillow or something.”

Dean’s cheeks colored at that. He hadn’t needed Sam to  _ out _ him as a serial accidental snuggler. He just liked a little physical contact, okay? No big deal. 

“Jimmy loves to be snuggled, you should have slept in our tent,” Castiel said in passing. Jimmy seemed almost as surprised as Dean at that statement but both managed to brush it off. Minus the slight color on Dean’s cheeks that he’s sure has been there constantly since he woke up. Good thing those two couldn’t talk all day and keep embarrassing him…

They packed all their gear up and had the saddle bags ready to go with a few minutes before dawn.

What’s the plan today? Where are we headed to for tonight? How long will it take to get there? What did they need to go over tonight to be ready for battle? How many bathroom breaks was Sam gonna need?

Those were the questions Dean had running through his mind, and he would have asked them too if they hadn’t heard a loud noise behind them, almost like a roar. They all turned around to see a big friggin’ grizzly bear running towards them with a hooded figure on top. They were still pretty far off but not 2 seconds after they turned around a flaming knife flew right by Dean’s face and landed in the bark of a tree, catching it on fire.

“Go, go go!” Dean yelled, and they all started running in the opposite direction.

“We’re gonna turn in less than a minute!” Jimmy said as he made pace with Dean and started taking off any clothes that he could while maintaining speed. Luckily Sam had grabbed the other saddle bag Dean hadn’t been carrying but it was making him fall behind. Dean paced himself next to Sam and grabbed the other bag just as he saw Castiel throw his shirt behind him without a second thought. All of a sudden, the bright light started and Dean and Sam closed their eyes as much as they could and still see where they were going. Jimmy was back in horse form and they saw Castiel flying into the air as they threw the saddle bag over Jimmy’s back and Dean made an attempt to mount the moving animal. 

Another knife flew past Dean, luckily they’d all missed them so far but Dean was getting worried. He helped Sam mount as well, then Jimmy took off as fast as he could away from the bear. 

“Hold on, Sammy!” Dean yelled behind him.

“Who are they? Why are they chasing us?” Sam screamed from behind Dean. 

He reached behind him and grabbed his bow and an arrow. “I don’t know, but they won’t be for much longer!” Dean pulled back on his bow, aiming for the hooded figure. The bear without their rider wouldn’t be nearly as problematic. He released his arrow, aim a little shaky given he was sitting on a galloping horse, but he would have hit him no problem if the ride hadn’t just caught the arrow midair. “Shit!”

Soon after a flaming knife soared at them and pierced one of their saddle bags. Sam quickly pulled the knife out and patted the fire out with his coat. Dean really needed to get his aim together, they did  _ not  _ need Jimmy getting injured while he was a friggin horse. They wouldn’t be able to do any traveling at all until night time if he came up lame.

“Aim for the bear!” Sam suggested to Dean. It wasn’t a bad idea, the rider may still be okay but if the bear was down then at least they could get a bigger distance between them. Just as he was about to release his second arrow, this time aiming right between the bear’s eyes, he Saw Castiel come into view above them followed by a flaming knife making contact with the golden bird trying to keep pace above them.

“Catch him!” Dean yelled as he released his arrow. Sam caught Castiel the second Dean’s arrow made contact. The bear went down and the rider was forced to emergency dismount. It didn’t look like he was planning to follow them either. 

Turning his attention to Sam, he could see that Castiel was not in good condition. The knife hadn’t done too much damage, but the fire had. The flames quickly were put out by Sam wrapping him in his jacket, but the damage had already been done. His right left wing was badly burned, all the way down to the skin. He definitely wouldn’t be able to fly like this. Cas wasn’t moving much, but he wasn’t howling in pain either. If birds even did that. 

Not knowing what else to do, Sam just kept Cas wrapped in the jacket until they made time to stop. Which probably wouldn’t be soon given the circumstances.

When they did finally stop, it was at a stream where Jimmy could take a drink and Sam could fill their canteens. Jimmy was  **tired** . He ran for so long, and had been panting heavily for the last mile, so when Dean spotted the stream he forced him to stop and take a break there. Castiel still wasn’t moving much. Dean could tell he was in pain but he was seriously at a loss for what to do to help him. 

Dean held onto Cas while Sam filled their canteens, trying to be as gentle as possible. The wing hadn’t been bleeding, any wound having been cauterized by the hot blade. It didn’t look good, though. Of that Dean was certain.

He could tell Castiel was looking at him, calm but tense. He would do anything right now to be able to hold Castiel, in his human form, and try and help him. He’d been injured enough to know how to deal with this kind of wound, but just like Sam, he didn’t know how to treat birds.

“I’m so sorry Castiel. I should have kept a better look out. I’m gonna make this right, okay? We are gonna fix you, break this god forsaken curse and you are gonna be just fine. I swear to you,” Dean whispered so only Cas would hear him. 

Jimmy was done drinking and wandered over to where Dean and Sam were sitting with Cas. He walked up to Dean and nuzzled Cas in his lap, ever so gently. It was obvious that Jimmy knew what was going on but was unable to do anything to help his brother. Dean couldn’t even imagine what that would feel like, to see Sam injured in front of him but unable to lift a finger to help. 

Sam rummaged through his herb pouch until he found what he was looking for. He ground it up and made a paste, then applied it to Castiel’s wing. He squirmed as Sam applied it, but he seemed calmer once the application was done. 

“There’s some pain relieving qualities in that plant, I figured that would help take the edge off until we stop for the night,” Sam said. 

“Good thinking, Sam.”

And just like that, they were on their way again. At a slower pace, though. They’d gotten a head start already on the distance they needed to cover from the chase this morning, so Jimmy was able to take it slower for the second leg of the trip. Unfortunately, a lot of that time was trotting, and nobody enjoyed the bouncing, especially Cas. 

Once again, dusk came, and they found a small clearing to set up camp. According to his calculations, there were less than an hour from the witch’s dwelling now. Meaning that distance would need to be covered tomorrow before dusk, but they had to wait out here all day tomorrow to wait until the twins were in human form again. Which, at this point, was a good thing. It had been almost annoying knowing they were so close but had to wait, but now this gave Castiel time to heal before the encounter. Hopefully Sam would be able to use some magic he knows to speed the healing process up significantly.  

Camp was set up quickly, Dean having wanted it done before the boys turned so they could treat Castiel. It came just like before, the blinding white light causing both Sam and Dean to close their eyes. They kept them closed until they heard Jimmy was fully dressed and had laid the blanket over Castiel’s body. The first thing they heard was Castiel groan in pain. Surely the transformation was painful with the injury. 

“Oh, Cas, how are you feeling?” Jimmy was on the ground by his brother’s side in an instant. He gently rubbed his hand along Cas’s cheek, not sure how else to comfort him.

“It burns, and the muscles hurt from being in place all day,” Castiel replied. Now in human form, the wound was bigger, a huge chunk of his shoulder was burned, but at least the actual puncture wound didn’t look too bad now that it wasn’t covered in feathers. 

“Let me get a look at it, please,” Sam said, pushing his way over to Castiel’s side. He was pulling herbs galore out of his bag as soon as he laid eyes on the wound, and seemed almost happy with what he saw. “I think I can fix this.”

He pulled the herbs out and set them in his little grinding dish that Dean couldn’t remember the name of and started making a paste. “Cas, I gotta warn you, this is gonna burn when I apply it.”

Castiel laughed, despite his fear. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

First Sam rubbed the paste into Castiel’s shoulder, and being the strong young man he was, Castiel took the pain without making a sound. Sam then put some into his own palm, grabbed a knife, and made a slit down the length of hand. 

“Sam, what the hell!” Dean had never seen Sam use blood for spells that wasn’t freely given from Dean. He really didn’t like the sight of Sam harming himself on purpose. Didn’t sit well with him at all.

“Calm down, Dean. I’ve done this before, it will heal as soon as the spell is done. I promise.” Sam maintained eye contact with Dean for a few more seconds before refocusing on what he was doing to Castiel. He made a fist with his bloody hand, and closed his eyes. 

He whispered some Latin gibberish that Dean didn’t know or understand, and dropped blood from his hand into Castiel’s wound. 

“Argh!” Castiel screamed in pain. The paste must not have really been painful before this…

Right before their eyes, Castiel’s wound starting healing itself, closing nearly halfway shut in a matter of seconds, but then it just stopped.

Jimmy started shaking his head. “Why did it stop? He isn’t healed yet!” Jimmy wasn’t calm about this either. His brother was hurting, and Dean knew if he was in that position he would definitely be a freakin’ mess.

“It’s going to take time. I’ll need to do the spell several more times in the next couple of hours to ensure he makes a full recovery,” Sam told Jimmy. “And…” he trailed off.

“What?” Dean asked impatiently.

“...I’m gonna need to stay next to him all night in order to continue doing the spell. So you guys are gonna have to share the other tent.”

Dean stood straight up at that. Panning his head in Jimmy’s direction, he could see the dark haired young man grinding his teeth in anticipation. Well, at least they both felt awkward about sharing a tent with each other. It was going to be a long night for sure…

They helped Sam get Castiel as comfortable as he could be in his and Dean’s tent, then put out the fire and headed for Jimmy’s tent.

“So…” Dean started. 

“What?” Jimmy quirked an eyebrow at him. “You nervous about sleeping next to me? I promise I don’t bite. Unless you want me to, in that case I definitely bite.”

“Uh, no! Not nervous, I don’t know what you’re talking about…” A deep flush covered Dean’s cheeks and was making its way down his neck. Jimmy simply laughed and went into the tent first, leaving Dean outside to get himself together.  _ Snap out of it Winchester, it’s just one night _ . 

That  _ one night _ turned out to be very long. At first Dean got in the tent without a word and they undressed to what they would wear to sleep without facing each other. When it came time to lay down, however, it quickly became obvious that they wouldn’t be able to avoid touching each other at least a little. It wasn’t a big deal when he was laying next to Sam… but Jimmy? It was awkward. Not because Dean minded touching him, it was just that he would be touching someone he was significantly attracted to, and he was finally able to admit that to himself. God he really hoped he didn’t accidentally snuggled up next to him during the night. 

When Dean finally managed to lay down and get comfortable, Jimmy had already managed to get halfway to being asleep. Keyword was halfway, though, because he turned over and laid his hand over Dean’s stomach gently. 

“Uh,” Dean started to say, but Jimmy immediately shushed him. 

“Goodnight, Dean.”


	6. Chapter 6

It took him a long time to fall asleep that night, and not because he could hear Jimmy’s soft snores right next to him, or Castiel’s whimpers of pain from the other side of the camp. He wanted nothing more than to roll over and wrap his arms around Jimmy’s lean, bare body. He used what little moonlight was able to get into the tent to trace the lines of Jimmy’s shoulders, his taut abs, and muscular thighs. Jimmy was like a delicacy, you had to make it last because you couldn’t have it all the time. He wanted to soak in as much as he could, knowing he may never get another opportunity.

He felt guilty, taking advantage of Jimmy, as he was unaware and could do nothing about Dean’s eyes devouring every inch of him. So he moved Jimmy’s arm off of him and slammed his eyes shut. He really needed to sleep and stop thinking about Jimmy like that. It was just wrong.

A soft noise woke Dean from a deep sleep, a murmur right in his ear. And then he felt a nibble and all of a sudden he was completely awake. 

“What the,” Dean started before Sam ripped open their tent, letting in pre-dawn light that made Dean squint. Sam’s eyes widened as he stared right at Dean, having found them arms entangled, blankets thrown off sometime in the middle of the night.  _ Damnit _ he fucking spooned Jimmy last night.

Castiel was standing just behind Sam and couldn’t stop laughing. “I told you he liked to spoon,” he said before walking back over to the campfire and sitting down in front of the fire that had been started again. It was still a little cold that morning, so they were doing all they could to keep warm. 

Dean gets up quickly, not wanting to be a spectacle for his brother and Castiel to stare at. Jimmy was still groggy and wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening when he was awoken unceremoniously by Sam opening the tent. He avoided eye contact with the both of them, but did allow himself to glance at Castiel’s shoulder. It looked enormously better than it had last night, all that was left of his injury was a jagged scar. 

He accidentally looked up from Castiel’s shoulder and made eye contact with him. Castiel smiled sweetly, a look of amusement in his eyes, which only made Dean blush and walk away faster back to his own tent.

Chatter could be heard between the other three boys around the campfire, assumedly to start on some breakfast, but Dean largely ignored it all while he got dressed for the day. There was no need to listen in on them making fun of him and Jimmy for getting all close during the night. Who were they to judge, anyways. It wasn’t like they were caught having sex or something! Not that that would have happened, of course. Jimmy hadn’t expressed any interest in that sort of thing, nor had Cas… Just because Dean imagined things didn’t mean he would act on them!

Footsteps could be heard approaching Dean’s tent, so he pulled on his shirt quickly incase they were planning to walk in. 

“Dean? Could I talk to you?” It was Jimmy on the other side of the opening to his tent, and Dean wasn’t sure how he should answer. 

Instead of replying with words, Dean stepped out of the tent and into the cool morning air, standing face to face with Jimmy. 

“Let’s go for a walk,” Jimmy suggested. 

They start off in a direction away from camp, though not with any destination in sight. Castiel and Sam were busy packing up camp and fixing their food for the day, so they didn’t really notice the others take off. Or at least they pretended not to notice. Perhaps they realized they needed their privacy. 

They didn’t walk long before Jimmy spoke. “You know it’s okay, right? It’s seriously very okay with me.”

Dean’s brows furrowed in confusion at Jimmy’s statement. “What do you mean?”

“I like you too, Dean. You don’t have to try and hide it. I brought you out here so you wouldn’t have to talk about it in front of your brother because I could tell that made you uncomfortable, him finding us like that this morning.” Jimmy was smiling at Dean, but Dean was still refusing to look at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jimmy, there’s nothing going on.” Dean was grinding his teeth, cleary the conversation was making him anxious. But Dean’s denial was making Jimmy mad, and Dean was very well aware of that fact. He was right about this being uncomfortable for him. So Dean just kept walking further away from camp, Jimmy keeping pace right beside him.

“Okay, fine. You can keep on pretending nothing exists between us,” Jimmy replied, clearly pissed at Dean’s lack of maturity about the situation. Then Jimmy’s steps faltered for a moment. “Or is it Cas you’re after? You did meet him first, after all. I’ve seen the way you look at him. Am I a good enough copy to get your knockers off, is that it?” Jimmy was seething by this point and Dean couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed Jimmy’s hands and pulled him closer together, so that they were standing close together and Jimmy couldn’t go anywhere.

“Jimmy, please, just stop. Just, listen. Please.” Jimmy nods, and so Dean drops his hands and steps back a foot.

“I…” Dean started, losing courage almost immediately. Seeing Jimmy’s look of concern, Dean grabs one of his hands again, this time for support. “I like the both of you, okay? I’m just… confused. I’ve never,” Jimmy cuts him off. 

“Liked guys before?”

“Like anyone. And I don’t know what to do about my feelings right now,” Dean told Jimmy, dropping his hand in the process so he could hide his face. He felt ashamed and needed to look anywhere else. “There’s the problem of you guys being twins, so that’s complicating it on one hand, and on the other, we’re going into battle tonight and I don’t know what the other side is going to look like, if I’ll be there to see it at all. I’m scared, Jimmy.”

“Oh, Dean,” Jimmy whispered softly as he walked around to face Dean again. His eyes were sad as Jimmy stared into them, and Dean was caught by surprise when Jimmy took his hands, tilted Dean’s chin down, and planted a soft kiss on his lips. It was his first kiss, ever, and it was over before Dean even had time to think about it.

“I know you’re scared, but I can promise you at least one of those won’t be an issue. Come on, we should get back before they get worried about us,” Jimmy said to Dean, their faces still close. Dean nodded his agreement as Jimmy grabbed his hand and they made their way back to camp quickly. There was work to be done.

When they got back to camp, they had packed everything up and food was waiting for each of them by the dwindling fire.

“Have a nice stroll?” Sam asked them when they came into view. Jimmy and Dean had already released hands, knowing Dean wouldn’t be comfortable with doing that in front of anyone. 

Dean largely ignored the comment, instead opting to sit and eat rather than make any kind of conversation with anything. Jimmy did the same, but kept looking at Dean differently than he had before. Dean blushed slightly when he noticed, but hopefully nobody noticed them make eye contact several more times before they finished eating. 

Once the food was gone, they only had a few minutes before the sun would rise so they gathered to discuss the day’s plan. Apparently Sam and Cas had plotted extensively during the night since they both had been awake for half of it. 

Here was the plan: They were waiting until nightfall to attack, so that they were all human and would be able to maintain communication throughout the attack. Jimmy would transform into not a deer again, much less noticeable than a horse, and Cas would transform into another bird, but this time a much smaller one to be more inconspicuous. They would keep watch and look for any sigils or spell work around the witch’s location, while Sam and Dean set up camp closer to the location of attack. They would rendezvous at the new camp once dusk fell and the twins were human again, and Sam and Dean would prepare everything else they needed for the battle while they waited. 

Soon enough the sun came up and the boys were off, leaving Sam and Dean to carry all of the camp equipment on foot this time. They were walking for a few minutes before Sam finally snapped and asked Dean what he’d been seriously hoping wouldn’t come up.

“So what’s up with you and Jimmy? And where did you go this morning?” 

Dean huffed in annoyance. “Don’t worry about it, kiddo.”

“Deeeaaaannn, just tell me. We might not make it through tonight and you’re gonna spend today keeping stuff from me? Come on, you know you want to tell me,” Sam begged him. Nosey little kid always wanting to know his business.

Dean sighed, relenting. “Look, it’s nothing okay? I just… we needed to talk alone so we left for a little while.”

Sam contemplated this, taking a moment before saying anything. “To talk about last night?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m okay with it you know.”

Dean turned to look at Sam finally. “Okay with what, exactly?”

“With you liking boys,” Sam said matter-of-factly.

“That’s good to know, I guess.” Dean was feeling increasingly awkward as this conversation went on. He had never really had any romantic encounters around Sam, let alone on his own, so having this conversation with his brother was difficult on more than one level. 

By the time they reached the new location, Dean had had more than enough chatting about his feelings with his brother so he put a quick end to it. “I’d really rather not talk about this anymore if you don’t mind. We have work to do, anyways. Why don’t you brew those persian shield potions and boil clean water and I’ll make some arrows, okay?”

Sam agreed, and then they worked side by side silently for several hours. Dean made many arrows dipped in whatever paste Sam had given him earlier. It was supposed to have anti-magic effects, meaning anything that these arrows touched would be bound magicless. That would definitely be helpful in the case of some possessed animal like that bear yesterday. Which was scary as hell and even thinking about it made Dean’s breakfast want to show back up. He may be a hunter, but he wasn’t used to hunting things with vengeance against him. Not like this anyways. 

Sam had brewed enough persian shield potion for each of them, so that they could all drink it before the battle and have the shield magic protecting them from whatever the witch threw at them… for an unspecified amount of time. They still hadn’t really worked out the kinks of that spell yet, but they knew it worked and for some time. Hopefully long enough to get them out of this safely. Dean wasn’t betting on it, but he didn’t tell Sam that. Better the kid had high hopes.


	7. Chapter 7

By the time the boys arrived back, they were both already clothed and Dean was getting really fucking nervous for this fight. He had done some of his own scouting and was unable to see anything magical at all, so he really hoped they had discovered something useful. What surprised him the most about the boys return, though, was how determined Castiel looked the closer he got. He walked right up to Dean, grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him right on the lips in front of Sam.

This kiss was different than Jimmy’s was. Castiel had real force in it, not taking no for an answer. The kiss was an assault on Dean’s lips but he couldn’t help but to kiss him back. As soon as he realized the gravity of the situation, though, he released and stepped back a little to get some distance between them. He thought he should say something but all that came out was, “Cas.”

Cas chuckled at Dean’s response to his kiss. “Good to see you too, Dean. We definitely need to talk when this is all over. I see you guys have been working?” Castiel motioned to the arrows and other things lying around the camp. 

Dean was still in a haze and not paying attention, so Jimmy walked up to him and put his hand on Dean’s shoulder. “I told you it wouldn’t be an issue.” Jimmy winked as he walked away, leaving Dean blushing and standing alone. Quickly he snapped out of it and joined the others. They needed to prepare, and they needed to get a move on.

Cas and Jimmy tell the others what they discovered during the day. Apparently animals can sense more than Dean can, since they went to all the same places he had and saw things he didn’t. There were multiple warding spells placed around the perimeter of the witch’s cabin. They weren’t really dangerous, but they served as some kind of warning for her. She likely knew they were coming and would be well armed if that were the case. They didn’t find anything else, so hopefully that meant the journey to the witch wouldn’t be too difficult. 

Once they were there, though, the plan was to have Sam play healer from the back. He was not to engage in any combat himself if he could avoid it, and to help the rest of them with potions or spells he could mutter under his breath that could block the witch’s magic. Dean didn’t know much about how this magic worked so he didn’t ask a lot of questions. 

Dean would be attacking long range, as he was better with his bow and arrows than he was at hand to hand combat. Jimmy and Cas, though, they wanted to be up close and personal with the witch. They need something from her to break their curse, but they wouldn’t tell Dean what it was. Dean trusted them, though, so he didn’t let it bother him. Much.

When they are all up to date on the plan and feeling as comfortable with it as they can, they all drink the persian shield potion and head towards the cabin. The moon was brightly lit in the sky, helping to illuminate the path ahead of them. Jimmy was brandishing a knife with strange symbols carved in it. The tip was curved to a point, and the handle was a smooth wood. Castiel was holding what appeared to be a silver pointed triangular blade, and all the edges were sharp. Sam was his own weapon, though he did also carry a small knife. Dean of course had his bow and arrows, but he also carried a large knife on him. His whittling knife was present as well, but he didn’t bring that along for the blade. 

The night was quiet, minus the sound of their footsteps, and Dean was relishing in the peace before the storm. The witch’s cabin was in sight now, but all of a sudden out of nowhere one of them must have hit some kind of magical mine because an explosion sent them all flying back several feet. In half a second Dean heard Sam scream something in Latin and then a purple shimmer appeared all around the four of them, keeping the flames from the explosion from reaching them. The flames spread around the shield until finally extinguishing on their own.

“Everybody okay?” Dean called out to them, his eyes roaming over to where Sam was getting off the ground.

“Dean!” Cas shouted out. Dean turned to where Cas and Jimmy were looking and saw a women with bright, fiery red hair step out of the cabin they were facing. She was wearing a long black dress, with sleeves down to her fingertips. She was beautiful, honestly, but all Dean saw was evil. He had his arrow drawn in her direction by the time he took his next breath. He was ready to release his arrow when all of a sudden he hears hundreds of little caw sounds from above him. The noise grows so loud he looks up to find a huge flock of crows gunning right at the group of them.

“Move, move! Dean shouted, and they all tumbled out of the way just in time for the crows to swoop at them and miss, going back up into the air to get ready for another dive. 

“I don’t have enough arrows for this!” Dean shouted in Sam’s direction. He went to turn to Cas and Jimmy but they were gone, already running towards the witch who was by no means standing still. She was firing spell after spell at them, only to be disappointed when each spell bounced off of them like light against a mirror. Each spell struck and a purple light burst from wherever it landed, showing that the persian shield magic was working. 

 

The witch caught on quickly to this, though, and changed tactics. She used magic to animate the stones lining a path to her cabin, and they stacked to form some giant humanoid form. She had made for herself a personal bodyguard that was definitely resistant to attack by knife.

Seeing this take place, Dean immediately knew they would need back up, so he decided to run after them, crows be damned. “Sam, come on!” He shouted, needing Sam to follow them down as well. They were stronger together, especially when Sam had all the magical knowledge. 

Sam and Dean ran down the hill as fast as they could, while Sam kept conjuring shields to keep the crows at bay. He looked tired already, but Dean knew his little brother could keep going. He’d seen the kid study all night long on more than one occasion. The twins were taking turns dodging rock attacks and trying to get closer to the witch, but were largely unsuccessful with the latter part. Dean could hear them shouting, too. 

“Rowena, you coward! Get rid of this rock and fight us yourself!”

So Rowena was the witch’s name. Dean was sure he’d been told the name before, but he had forgotten with everything going on. 

They finally reach the twins, and Sam was kneeling on the ground, searching his pouch. 

“What are you doing!” Dean shouted at Sam, barely audible above the noise the crows were making. At some point clouds had come in, and so when thunder started as well Dean jumped where he was standing. 

“I think I have a counter spell! I can deaminate the rocks!” Sam shouted back, now with wind picking up. There was a storm brewing, and Dean was not looking forward to it. “Okay, but hurry up!”

Dean aimed an arrow at the rocks, only to have it bounce off without doing any damage. He was getting frustrated, so he decided to shoot three at once at some crows, and they all dropped dead immediately. That got the crows attention again, and so they all came swarming back in his direction. 

“ _ Da clypeus!”  _ Dean shouted, and a purple circle appeared against Dean’s arm like a shield and he held it above his head, making it grow just large enough to keep the birds from hitting him. He wasn’t sure how Sam kept using the shield without speaking the latin, but he still had to speak it. 

“I’ve got it! Sam shouted. Just in time, too. Jimmy had just gotten thrown several feet from being hit by the rock body guard, and Cas was holding his own shield up, protecting himself from whatever Rowena was sending his way.

Seeing an opportunity, Dean aimed an arrow right at Rowena, and released. The arrow headed straight for her, and Dean actually managed to graze her shoulder with it. She immediately stopped whatever spell she was casting at Castiel and looked right in Dean’s direction. She looked royally pissed now and was now heading right in his direction. 

He heard Sam yell out some latin and before he knew it the rocks were crumbling and the bodyguard was no more. This infuriated Rowena, already mad from Dean’s attack, and she screamed with rage. She cast a spell in her fury and it was aimed right at Sam. 

“No! Dean shouted just as Sam went to conjure a shield. He was too late, though. The spell hit him right in the chest, knocking him back several feet. There was a purple glow when the spell hit which means Sam’s potion was still in effect, but the glow was dim so Dean knew it must have been wearing off already. He was running towards Sam in an instant, not caring what else the witch would do now. None of that mattered anymore, all that mattered was Sam, and he was hurt. Oh God, he was hurt. 

Jimmy and Cas saw what happened and they ran closer to the others, knowing they would need protection right now. Dean leaned over Sam’s body, looking for any signs of life he can find. He could see Sam was breathing, but panic was still right there on the edge, and Dean cried for the first time in a long time.

“C’mon, Sammy. You gotta get up. We gotta get up, Sammy, please.” Sam didn’t respond at all to Dean’s words, nor to Jimmy and Cas shouting behind them. The storm had picked up, the wind was so strong Dean’s hair was pointing towards the sky, and the crows were so close they were deafening. Dean was so scared for his brother, he was scared for the twins, he couldn’t lose everyone he cared about in one night like this. 

Not knowing what else to do, Dean summoned the persian shield magic from within his whittling knife to surround them all and give him time to think. “ _ Da clypeus!” _ he shouted out, spreading his arms in a motion to expand the shield to encompass as large an area as possible. All four of them were contained within it, and the noise stopped. There was no wind, no crows, and no witch with her magical spells. It was just them, together. Hoping the shield would hold for a moment, Dean fell onto the ground, still trying to compose himself. 

“Dean…” Dean perked up, having heard Sam’s call from behind him.

“Sam, Sam, talk to me, are you okay? What’s hurt?” Dean was by his side in a matter of milliseconds. 

Sam only shook his head. “You have to take this, Dean. It’s the only way.” Sam was holding up a purple leaf that looked like the persian shield plant. There must have been some left over after the potions were brewed.

“But what can I do with it, it’s not prepared?” Dean was confused and still panicking about Sam’s well being when Jimmy and Cas came over and each rested a hand on Dean’s shoulders. 

“The shield is breaking, Dean. You need to restabilize it or prepare to fight again,” Castiel told him. Dean looked back to Sam to see him nodding then opening his mouth to show Dean what to do. 

“Okay.” Dean took the plant from Sam and put it in his mouth. The leaf tasted just as bitter as the potion did, but this was much worse. As soon as the leaf hit his tongue, though, Dean felt a change.  

“Jimmy, stay with Sam,” Cas said.

“What, why?”

“Someone needs to protect him while me and Dean go after Rowena. I know what this plant is going to do to him, and this might be the shot we need to break this curse!”

All of a sudden Dean stood up, feeling the power of the plant flow through him like never before. He felt immensely more powerful than he ever did just using the shield magic from his whittling knife or even from the potion. The power flowing through him he knew he could destroy with.

He could see the purple haze around them shrinking, his shield was breaking. The a flick of his wrist and a simple thought, the shield was restored fully, and stopped shrinking immediately.

Dean’s skin started to glow, and his eyes had turned a bright purple to match the color of the shield. With restored confidence, Dean took his knife out from his belt and marched right up to Rowena, who had been standing waiting outside their shield until she could attack again. 

Seeing Dean like this, though, made her scared, and she started backing up slowly. “You don’t have to do this. I can do anything you want!” He heard Rowena shout in some kind of european accent. Her words didn’t matter, though. This wasn’t just about the curse on Jimmy and Castiel anymore. This was about Dean’s revenge for hurting his brother. Nobody hurt his brother and fucking got away with it. Especially not this bitch. 

Every spell the witch threw at Dean was completely useless, as he was completely protected by the persian shield plant within him now.  She kept on trying different spells, but nothing worked and she looked more and more frantic with every passing second. All Dean could see was red, he was seething with rage, and he was going to make her pay for what she’d done.

Rowena made to turn and run away from Dean, but Cas was behind her, and grabbed her by the shoulders to keep her in place. Dean walked right up to her and ran his blade straight through her chest, where her heart would have been had she had one. 

Castiel released her, and she crumpled to the ground, the light in her eyes slowing dimming. All of the crows were silent then, all falling to the ground, dead just like her. The wind stopped too, as though the magic in the air had caused the storm in the first place. 

In front of him, Dean saw Castiel’s eyes go blue, and the bright light that happened when the twins transformed consumed his body forcing Dean to look away. It was definitely a sight to be seen, Dean’s purple aura mixed with Castiel’s blue. 

Dean felt the power die down inside him, and as soon as he was left with just his own strength, he fell to his knees, Castiel barely catching him in time not to plant is face in the dirt.

“Dean!” Castiel shouted as he ran to catch him from falling. Dean looked completely worn out by the effort of both defeating the witch and having to take the brunt of her magic during the whole event. 

“Sam,” Dean attempted to say, but it came out gravely. “Sam, is he okay?” Castiel helped Dean to his feet so they could walk back over to Sam and Jimmy.  Sam was sitting up when they got to them, but he didn’t look good. 

“I think he is okay, just bruised up. I’m not sure if he can stand, though. Says his leg hurts.” Jimmy was kneeling next to Sam, holding his hand as he winced through the pain of sitting up. Castiel put Dean down next to Sam so that he could be close to his brother and see that he really was okay. 

“Dean, are you okay, you look hurt too,” Sam let go of Jimmy in favor of reaching for Dean.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me, Sammy. I’m just fine.” 


	8. Chapter 8

Jimmy and Cas gave Dean and Sam some time to just see each other before insisting they get a move on. It was going to be light soon, and they needed to get back to the camp and pack up so they could start the journey home.  

They helped the brothers up, Jimmy supporting Sam and Cas helping Dean since he seemed wobbly on his feet still. 

“So what happens now?” Dean asked Castiel as they made their way to camp. It was a short distance, but was taking a while with their slow pace. 

“We are gonna pack up camp and start the two day journey back to your home,” Castiel replied. 

Dean shook his head. “No, I mean with us.”

“Let’s wait until we are back and talk then, okay? Let’s not worry about anything but getting you and your brother home right now, okay?”

They are still at the camp when dawn arrives, and it is mostly uneventful except for Jimmy and Castiel’s tear filled embrace when they see they are both still in human form in the daylight. Dean swore he even saw them kiss, but maybe he was just too exhausted so he doesn’t let himself think about what that meant. It was obvious they were relieved, having that burden lifted from their shoulders. Dean didn’t feel any relief, however. All he felt was despair in his gut at the thought of never seeing the twins again, so he shoved it down and made himself feel nothing. Just like he did when his father died.

The rest of the journey was unremarkable. They didn’t encounter any issues except for the slow pace the made the whole way back. It had definitely been faster on horseback.  Sam was quiet, which was unusual for him, as he usually talked everyone’s ears off. Dean was quiet too, he couldn’t get rid of his awful gut feeling as hard as he tried, and whenever the twins spoke to him he would answer as short as possible so as to avoid conversation. He couldn’t take them telling him they were leaving. He just couldn’t. 

The night before the last day of the journey, Sam was feeling a huge amount better than before, as he’d finally had the energy to make a healing tonic for himself. Dean was feeling better too, not nearly as exhausted as he had been. Apparently eating the persian shield plant was extremely dangerous with a ton of side effects that Sam hadn’t bothered to mention before he ate the damn thing! But Dean wasn’t too mad, it was obviously the only way they could have beaten the witch and besides, he really was fine. Having been used to the magic of the plant had made him strong enough to be able to handle it and not… well, die.

It was the last day of travel, they were all four exhausted, no one had spoken for hours, when Dean started to recognize their surroundings. He could even see landmarks he and Sam had carved into the trees over the years.

“Dean, look! Our markings!” Sam perked up when he saw them, knowing that meant they were close. He picked up the pace slightly, having had motivation strike him to get home sooner. It wasn’t long before the woods thinned and the cabin came into view. Dean could see their mom bent over in her garden, even as far away as it was from them.

Sam must have noticed her too, because he shouted, “Mom!” as loudly as he could then bursted into a sprint, headed straight for her. 

Mary stood up and turned around, before she dropped everything and ran to meet Sam in the yard. When the finally met, they embraced tightly and didn’t let go for a very long time. 

Instead of racing towards home like Sam, Dean’s pace slowed even more. He was of course excited to see his mother for the first time in a week, and to be home safe, but this was their stop. The twins would drop him off here and they would disappear from his life forever. 

He must have stood still too long, though, because Jimmy and Cas were both by his side when he looked up from his feet again.

“Maybe we should talk now,” Castiel said to Dean softly. 

“I already know,” Dena replied, refusing to make eye contact with either one of them.

“Know what,” Jimmy countered. 

Dean took a step back, making himself out of reach. “It was nice knowing you, too. Now you’re fixed and you’re gonna go back home or whatever, and leave me here all alone.” Dean’s voice broke the longer he spoke, clearly on the verge of breaking down on the spot. “It’s really okay. I knew this was coming.” A single tear fell from Dean’s eye, and he ignored it run down his cheek and into his mouth, the taste of salt reminding him of how much hurt he felt inside.

“Please don’t put words in our mouths, Dean.” Jimmy was trying to get Dean to look at him, but he still wouldn’t. He could see his mother and Sam staring back at them from the house. They must have known the boys needed privacy because they didn’t try to walk over to them, though he was sure his mother was trying very hard to keep herself from doing so.

“If you’d just given us a minute to explain, then you’d know we don’t want to leave you, Dean.” Castiel stepped forward and grabbed Dean’s hand, while Jimmy grabbed his other hand. “We have been scared you would try and push us away, though. You haven’t spoken to us in two days, and we were terrified of you saying  _ you _ wanted  _ us _ to leave.”

“That’s not what I want at all, Cas. I want you and Jimmy to stay here, with us. I don’t know what is waiting for you back where you came from, but I do know what will be here missing you if you do decide to go back.” More tears were falling from Dean’s eyes now, his face covered in them. Cas and Jimmy both wrapped their arms around Dean, peppering kisses all over his tear-streaked face. 

“We won’t ever leave you, Dean,” Jimmy said with one last kiss to Dean’s cheek. They both took one of Dean’s hands and walked together back to the house. Mary did run to them at that point, wanting to see her other son to badly to wait any longer. 

The reunion was sweet, and Mary made sure to let all four of them know how proud she was to have them all returned safe and sound with the curse broken. She was of course happy to have Cas and Jimmy staying there with them, so Sam slept in the living room while Dean, Cas and Jimmy shared what used to be Dean and Sam’s room. 

They started working on a second cabin right away, one to go behind his mom’s cabin facing the forest. Dean, Cas, and Jimmy would live in the separate cabin, that way Sam could get his own room back. The building took a few months, but before they knew it they were moving across the yard to a place to call their own. 

It wasn’t easy being in a triad relationship like they were, especially since Cas and Jimmy were twins. They got a lot of flack about it from the locals that came by, but Mary and Sam never had any problems with the three of them together, they were just glad Dean was finally happy. And we has very happy with his two new boyfriends. 

“So what exactly was it you needed from the witch to break the curse?” Dean asked one afternoon while he and Cas were working in the garden together. He never did end up finding out what broke the curse. 

Castiel smiled before answering. “We didn’t need anything from  _ her _ , actually. Someone who loved us had to kill her. That was the stipulation for breaking the curse.”

Dean let Castiel’s answer wash over him, realizing the gravity of his words. Dean was the reason the curse had been broken. He loved Cas and Jimmy even then, when they hadn’t even known each other for more than a week, not including Dean rescuing Castiel before. He already loved them then and hadn’t realized. The thought made him laugh, as it was so clear to him now that he loved them both so much. And he would never let either of them forget it.


End file.
